Like Flowers, Like People
by unbinding03
Summary: Miyuki had never shown much interest in flowers, let alone their meanings. That's what his mother liked. So why on earth does he think of a white hyacinth when this boy is obviously a sunflower? Where did that even come from?
1. White Hyacinth

Authors Note

The characters of Ace of Diamond do not belong to me. I started writing this about a year or so ago on AO3, and never got around to finishing it, seeing as there are only two chapters written I think that is pretty obvious. The reason as to why I'm posting these chapters here is to try and get some feedback to see how I could improve my writing and the story. I am very open to suggestions and would love any kind of feedback. Hopefully I'll eventually continue this story, or maybe even rewrite it to make it better.

Miyuki had never really been interested in plants and nature.

Don't get him wrong, he saw the appeal that beautiful flowers had, that getting them for people was a nice gesture, but he had never bought any for anyone, much less himself. He never took the time to tend to any of the plants his mother had when he was little, letting her plant them, raise them, and water them. After she passed away when Miyuki was fourteen, all of the flowers had wilted away with her, and it was weeks before Miyuki let his father throw them away.

He remembers how he would sit out on the porch with his mother while it rained, watching all of the little petals drip down as raindrops fell upon them. Although most of the plants were outside along the front of the house, there were still little bouquets all around the house that his mother would get fresh every Sunday. Azalea on his bedroom window sill, cosmos in his father's study, eucalyptus on either side of their front door, goldenrod in the basement where all the games were, periwinkle in the living room, and purple coneflower in the kitchen. When Miyuki would ask his mother why they were all there, she would only reply;

"Every flower has a meaning, just like every person has a story. It's up to you if you want to listen to them."

Miyuki knew what she meant by that, but would never really take the time to do such. He thought it was troublesome, even before her death, and only slightly opened up afterwards because he thought it was what she would've wanted.

A year after his mother's death he was scouted for baseball by Seido High School.

With his father rarely around, it wasn't hard to convince him that it was the best choice. Miyuki would be living in the dorms with the other players and would have meals provided for him, it would also take some stress off of his father's shoulders, not having to worry about what was going on with his son all the time if he got weekly reports on grades and a phone call every now and then.

So after graduating from Junior High, he packed up a suitcase with clothes, got his bag of catcher equipment, a picture of his family a few years back, and one of his mother's books that he had always seen her read, he headed out to Seido after a tight hug from his father.

His first year was mostly normal, aside from meeting a few interesting people that were on the team, and his struggle to make it to the first string. It was if all these people cared about was baseball (although he wasn't sure what that said about himself if he was determined as the next guy).

It wasn't until Takashima Rei, the woman that had scouted Miyuki, had brought a southpaw pitcher to the school, that he thought back on what his mother told him about flowers and their meanings.

His first thought was that he seemed like a sunflower; big and bright and calling people's' attention to himself. The second thought was, No, definitely a white hyacinth. Then he blinked and wondered what that even meant. He shook his head and decided to look into later.

After seeing the boy confront Azuma, he volunteered (more like demanded in polite words) to catch for the boy. He was slightly impressed with what he saw, more so when the boy (Sawamura Eijun, he learns is his name) manages to strike the third year out.

Miyuki scowled at the book in his hands.

After practice had ended, dinner was eaten, and a bath was taken, he had went up to his room to find out what the deal was with his sudden flower interest.

He had looked up pictures of the flowers he had thought of, and was reminded of how the younger pitcher definitely seemed like a sunflower, at least with his looks. But the white hyacinth was a mystery. Why on earth would he think of that when he saw the boy?

That was he looked up the meanings instead.

Even then he was confused. So he had turned to his last resource that might help him; his mother's book. In there were slightly different meanings than the ones he found on the internet, but it still didn't make him all that happy. He wasn't even sure how he knew the meaning of these flowers, but if he had to think it might've been when he would read it while laying in bed on the nights that he couldn't sleep.

"Beauty, huh?"

Miyuki jolted a little bit, surprised that he hadn't even heard Kuramochi, a fellow first year and friend, come in the room. He had completely forgotten that the team would be coming to his room tonight. Apparently it was tradition for the first string to hang out in the captain's room every Saturday night, and all of this flower business must've distracted Miyuki enough to forget that little fact.

He quickly closed the book and turned to look over his shoulder at the green haired boy with his trademark smirk easily sliding onto his face.

"Art project. We have to pick flowers that represent the person we admire most."

"Uh huh, sure." Kuramochi replied with a dubious look. "You sure you're not just trying to be romantic with some cute girl? She must be worth it for you to get into the language of flowers."

Miyuki rolled his eyes and turned back to put the book back in his desk drawer. By the time he moved over to sit on his bed, just about everyone from the first string was settling down and making themselves comfy in the little room.

It had been a few weeks since the other first string catcher, Takigawa Chris Yuu (everyone calls him Chris, though), had gotten injured. The second year had torn his subscapularis tendon as well as his pronator quadratus, near his shoulder and wrist, which makes it difficult for him to throw, especially as far as he would need to in order to continue catching. Miyuki felt bad for him, having looked up to him for almost two years now after meeting him in a Junior High game.

"So who's the unlucky lady that seems to have caught your eye?" Has he always been this nosey? Miyuki sighed and decided to give in a little, wanting to play with his friend by making him think a bit.

"If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret, okay?" He said, index finger coming up to his mouth in a shushing gesture. Kuramochi looked surprised for a moment, not really believing it was true even though he was teasing Miyuki about it. Then he nodded his head and leaned in when Miyuki motioned him over, tilting his head so that he could whisper in his ear.

"The initials of this person are S.E. If you can guess their full name then I will tell you it you're right. Until then, you'll have to keep guessing."

Both boys pulled away and Kuramochi looked at him with squinted eyes, seeming thinking.

"Suzuki Eko."

"No."

"Sato Erena."

"Nope."

"Sasaki Eriko."

"Wrong."

"Really?"

Miyuki's raised brow was answer enough.

"Okay, okay. Shimizu Esa?"

"I think that's enough for tonight." Miyuki said, laying down and getting under his covers.

"Wait! Saito Etsu! It's gotta be her! She has the biggest boobs in our class!"

"Goodnight, Kuramochi."

"Loser." Miyuki could tell he was pouting without even looking at him.


	2. Scarlet Geranium

Miyuki was only slightly surprised when he met Sawamura again, this time while hiding behind the equipment shed on the first day of the next school year.

He had spent the majority of the summer studying the flowers and their meanings from his mother's book, at least when could, with baseball still being a thing. He could probably name more than two hundred flowers and their meanings, yet he has no idea what to do with this information. He doesn't really understand why he took the time to learn about this anyway. Who cares that the pomegranate means 'foolishness' when the pomegranate blossom means 'mature elegance'?

If he had to think of something, he would say that it just gave him something to do when he had too much or too little on his mind. If he were to be honest, he would say that it calmed him down in a way that only his mother could when he was younger and getting over his fear storms, or how he was nervous going on his first big roller coaster and his mother held his hand through it all. He had so much fun that he even asked to go on it again.

It was a little different than the first time they met. He still thought of the white hyacinth from before, but it was a little more rough than he imagined, probably because he also thought of a scarlet geranium.

He can't really be this stupid.

Right?

Miyuki had stayed up late the night before, trying to get the meaning of wisteria down, and had ended up sleeping in late. At least he wasn't the only one. Although he would guess that the first year's roommates might've had something to do with Sawamura's lateness.

He didn't know if he would be able to get away with sneaking into the line without the coach seeing, but the idea of teasing the younger boy was too appealing to pass up. So as soon as Sawamura got a safe distance away from him in what he supposed was his imitation of a ninja was, he yelled loud enough so that only everyone could hear him.

"He came here late, but he's trying to sneak into the line!"

As soon as everyone turned to look at Sawamura, who had stopped mid-stride in surprise, Miyuki ran around the shed and jumped into the line himself.

He kind of expected getting caught, even with the distraction, but at least he wasn't the only one getting thrown under bus. Kuramochi and Masuko were also told to run with him and the first year, and Miyuki was glad that the two people responsible for this mess were getting punished as well.

It was amusing for him to see how Sawamura reacted though, saying that he wasn't going to trust anything he says again. At least until he threw up without even finishing one bowl of rice first, then it got a little messy.

He seemed to be doing better by the time he was gawking over the stamina that the second and third years had.

Miyuki was slightly impressed with Sawamura's words when he was trying to tell the coach about how much he wanted to become the ace. He liked his enthusiasm and how he seemed to be so passionate about his words, it almost made him believe the kid.

That is, until he embarrassed himself with the curveball that would've made it to fence about ninety meters away.

When he looked away, he could see Rei-chan facepalming and couldn't help but to chuckle, although he did feel kinda bad for Sawamura. Being told that he can only run while not being able to join practice would suck for anyone, even if he did bring it upon himself.

The first few days after that started and ended with Sawamura running around the field with less and less people feeling bad for him every passing day.

Though, on the fourth day, he was there before anyone else, and when Miyuki noticed Kuramochi watching the first year with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, he figured that Sawamura had finally found out that this wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy as it was in Junior High. He looked back to the solo runner and thought, Hollyhock. Only for baseball it seems.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts. He doesn't need to think about flowers right now, they have a game coming up soon and it wouldn't be good if the coach saw him slacking off.

Miyuki doesn't know what to do with Furuya.

Ever since he made himself known, he's been trying to get Miyuki to catch for him every time he has a chance. Well, Sawamura is like that too, but Furuya is just as determined and isn't easily provoked like Sawamura is.

It's not like he doesn't like his underclassmen, they can just be a bit much sometimes.

As soon as as Sawamura met Chris, Miyuki knew that there would be trouble.

They didn't seem to get along at first, especially when Chris told him that he couldn't actually pitch yet. Sawamura always seemed to dislike the training that he had to do, but he would always follow the instructions.

When Miyuki heard what he was saying about Chris, he was angry.

What did this kid know? Sawamura didn't understand that Chris didn't have a choice. He didn't understand that his eyes seemed so lifeless for a reason. He didn't know just how much Chris wanted to do more.

The next day he saw how Sawamura was following Chris around like a puppy and figured that he had finally found out about his injury.

Miyuki sighed in relief and and looked back to Furuya, who was still waiting for him to make a call, even after pitching for almost half an hour already. He leaned forward to rest his knees on the ground; crouching really starts to hurt after doing it for so long.

"How about we take a little break, Furuya? You must be getting pretty exhausted after so long." He said, not wanting to admit that he was getting tired as well. Unfortunately, Furuya looked like he could pitch another dozen or two balls.

"I'm fine, Miyuki-senpai. I don't want to waste any valuable time." The guy looked even more determined than usual now. Miyuki grimaced though, and was ready to say something about how he was really gonna hurt himself if he didn't take a break soon, but was interrupted when he heard yelling from across the field.

"I really want you to catch for me, Chris-senpai!"

Miyuki was scowling when he turned to look at the culprit, and to no surprise it was Sawamura begging Chris to go to the bullpen with him, although he did raise a brow when he noticed he was kneeling.

"Oi! Sawamura! I didn't know it was so easy to get you on your knees!"

It was said with a smirk and out of his mouth before he really realized what he was saying, and after a second Sawamura turned to look at him with a very red face. There were people snickering into their hands around them, but Miyuki didn't pay any attention to them. His eyes were on a flustered face that was almost as dark as a rose.

"Shut up Miyuki Kazuya! You perverted bastard! Like I would ever get on my knees for you!"

Miyuki chuckled before standing up, ignoring the look Furuya was giving him, and started making his way out of the bullpen to take his gear off. He didn't pay attention to anything else Sawamura was yelling at him, and missed the look Kuramochi was giving him from the side.


End file.
